HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Technical Difficulities - Back online!

Sorry about that but we're back online here

Thursday

I performed at a private even tonight. Had a nice time and everyone was really friendly. They provided me with some really good red wine to sip on while I was playing, always a plus!

On a separate note, Cosmo Kitty is on a diet. The vet said that she is slightly over weight! I had no idea. So as you can imagine, trying to ask her to cut back on her cat food hasn't been a simple task. I'll keep you posted with how that's going...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Last night's sunset

Okay, now I'm stepping out of the office, just had to post this photo and share the beautiful evening last night.

Stepping out of the office

Stepping out of the office for a bit, please feel free to comment or carry on conversations in the comment section.

S

p.s. random thought: It's hot out today and all that's left in the box are grape flavored popsicles, that always seems to be a problem. All the other ones get eaten up quickly and the grape ones are left. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I know anyone that likes the grape ones. Maybe they should just make the box with only orange and cherry instead.

reflection

Caught a good reflection in the computer screen while working. The typical recording day, Cosmo on lap.

This Weekend

So much for the Bears winning their first game on Sunday Night Football.....

Sitting here listening to the rain outside as I write, a very pleasant sound. We actually had some thunder storms yesterday morning! Not very common around these parts but great to hear, I think it's left overs from the tropical storm down south. About to have some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. For some reason, I had a major craving for it so I quickly went out to the store and picked some up. I ran almost 2 miles this morning so I feel it's okay to have ice cream tonight.

Speaking of the store, when I was there they had green chiles from New Mexico! Had to grab a bunch of them to take back with me. I was thrilled to see that they carried them, it's that time of year that they're in season. Can't wait to roast them this week.

So I've decided to give the movie Quantum Of Solace another try, just got it on net flicks. I'll let you know what I think. Wasn't sure about it the first time through a few months back. As you know, Casino Royale has been one of if not my favorite movies of all time (I'm sure those of you who have been following my blog already know this) so I set the bar pretty high for Quantum.

YESTERDAY:

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening hanging with my pal Luke out in Livermore Ca at the Guitar Player Live 09'. Man, it's gotta be about a year and a half since I've seen him and it was really cool of him to invite me down to hang. When I got there we walked over to one of the stages and watched the Travis Larson Band rock out for a while, man they were great! Great players and their live sound was killer. We all hung out after their performance, really nice cats. Soon after I went with Luke over to the Bankhead Theater, he was on the judging panel for the guitar player competition. Hung out backstage with him, Jennifer Batten, Earl Slick, Elliot Easton and Greg Hampton. I also sat behind them during the competition and listened to them critique the guitarists after they performed. It was almost like American idol, there were some pretty funny comments back n' forth between the judges. All of us were thinking it's got to be hard to get up there and play in a competition like that. That kind of thing is not for me but I give lots of credit to the players that got on stage.

websites

Just closed my linkedIn page. Not that I had anything going on there because I didn't spend any time on it so having it open was serving no purpose. So that's another one of those "in things to do" that I've decided not to deal with anymore. That along with facebook, myspace and twitter. I think out of all of them, I enjoyed twitter somewhat but not the rest. I remember spending up to 30 min or more putting in tour date information on myspace and half the time something went wrong and I had to do it over (because the way they had it set up completely sucked). I could have spent those 30 min practicing, writing music or anything more productive.

Myspace always has a ton of spam emails or promotion emails about things I could care less about. Some of the emails I would get that were concerning me, (questions about my gear, music etc) I'd replay back with a nice responce but most of the time I never received a reply i.e. thank-u email (which I feel is rude). So to say the least, I'm over it. Maybe there is some art form to it and some people have a knack (if there is such a thing or shall we really call it luck) for being very successful in achieving amazing success through those sites and if so, more power to you. I personally think it's just the "in thing to do" and in my case, I would rather spend time working on my music and having somewhat of a life when not recording/practicing/performing/networking then knacking around on these sites.

Now, this post is obviously more on the serious side, don't worry though I'll get back to more of the music and silly stuff soon - in the mean time, I've been busy working on new music.

music update

Wow, chilly out tonight! Okay, it's 60 degrees out, am i allowed to say that?? I do live in California, I've been getting used to these 80 and 90 degree days so 60 with a light breeze feels freezing to me. Okay, moving right along here... Thought I'd check in and give you an update since it's been eons!! Been plugging away at the new music and recording more electric guitar this week. I took a picture but it didn't turn out so great so try to imagine a photo with an electric guitar in it.

I tend to not work on only one song at a time. I like to jump around from song to song. I'll work on one song for a few days and move on to another. I then listen to what I've worked on when walking or driving to go run some errands or whatever (I get ideas that way). So there are a bunch of tunes that I have in the works and 3 of them are about 98.333% finished (as of this afternoon!). I just need to add some bass, other then that they're ready for mixing. Going to work on the next set of 3 tunes and get them up to speed and so on. So that's what's going on over here. Now I don't feel so cold but now I'm hungry... uh oh, I just saw that Cosmo is chewing on something, I better go and deal with this..

Ottmar Liebert - The Aladdin Theater (Portland, OR; July 26th, 2009)

A nice review and some great photos from our show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.

The atmosphere was mellow throughout the night. Everyone: sat and enjoyed the performance; clapped exhaustively after every song; panned around, from right to left and back, taking at least one glace at each and every musician on stage; locked sight with Ottmar in the center, then clapped and cheered again. The entire length of the concert was around two hours. I can tell you right now that time truly flew by. It was an amazing experience hearing ten years worth of my near-obsession with Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra’s music, live.

Here's the link -

The Aladdin Theater (Portland, OR; July 26th, 2009)

Uploaded some more photos from the tour

Tonight at the House Of Blues - Houston

This week on tour

Just got off stage at the One World in Austin. It's been a while since I've written so I thought I'd check in. I was down with a virus for about 10 to 12 day but I'm feeling much better now, not fun to be sick on tour but that's how it goes.

Really nice show at the house of blues in Dallas the other night, great audience and It sounded great on stage, I'm looking forward to playing at the HOB in Houston tomorrow evening.

So far, the movies I've watched on this tour have been -

U-571 (watched twice)
Paco De Lucia documentary
Public Enemies
Street Kings
Body Of Lies
Proof Of Life
The Hangover
Angles And Demons
Transformers 2 (Walked out of the theater during that one, totally sucked!)
Wedding Crashers
8 Mile
The Ugly Truth
Star Trek (the new one in theaters)
Casino Royale (watched twice or more)
Terminator Salvation

Speaking of movies, I think it's time to put one on in my bunk. Nothing like rolling down the fwy in the bus while watching a good movie!

Oh, there are a few photos from the tour I need to upload in the near future here.

Sometimes I just like sit and play piano for hours...

Tour update - Seattle

In Seattle for a few days, nice weather here today, much better then the 110 degrees we went through in the desert a few days back. Got coffee this morning and practiced for a while before it was time to leave for sound check. Two shows at the Triple Door this evening, the same for the following two nights as well. This time I brought a long sleeve shirt to wear under my button down on stage to keep me warm, it's usually as cold as the North Pole in there (good thinking on my part I must add), I was able to keep warm and comfortable on stage tonight. I'm now back at the hotel about to put a movie in and fall asleep.

I've been catching up on my movies lately which has been nice, been watching some on the coach ("coach" my fancy term for "tour bus") and the last few times we've had a day off I've been able to make it out to a movie theater.

The show at the Nugget in Sparks, NV was fun (about 4 days ago now) and of course I had to stop by the In-N-Out burger just down the street after the show. Two shows in Santa Cruz, CA day before yesterday. I found this really cool music/dvd store that sold new/used stuff just down the street from our gig. I had fun walking around in there looking at all the stuff and ended up buying 4 movies for the price of one.

I hear that Cosmo Kitty is doing well back home, It was a rough few days for her after I left, (wasn't a happy camper) but she seems to be doing well now which is good to hear. I don't think Herbie knows I left. As long as he is fed his cat treats, life's good for him. He's most likely sleeping as I type this.

Alright then, that's the SD report for now......

Tonight - Las Vegas

Nice show in Las Vegas tonight, great audience. After having some tasty Mexican food after the show, I'm now chilling in my bunk on the bus about to throw on a Paco De Lucia dvd.

Tonight in Phoenix

Back on the tour bus after the show, yeah it was a hot one out today, 110 degrees or more. Awesome performance tonight at the Celebrity theater in Phoenix, I had a blast!! Great audience too. In between sets I went down into the hospitality room to get a water and when I grabbed the door I hit my thumb nail and it cracked off half of the acrylic on top of my nail. So first I panicked, then after that was over with I went into my dressing room and got out the acrylic and repaired the nail and then held my thumb under a hot light bulb for pretty much the entire break to dry before getting back on stage. The second set went great as well. One of those nights were you feel that you can't hit a bad note. Some good photos and some really goofy ones from today as well, will have to post them later, stay tuned!

Now it's time for an adult beverage, some snacks and then pick out the movie to watch in my bunk.

Later

Santa Barbara

Sitting in a coffee shop in Santa Barbara having a croissant and a latte. It's nice to have some quiet time with my computer. Great show last night in San Diego!! I haven't been taking pictures but HERE is a link to a photo I took of the venue last year. Listening to Paco on my head phones while writing this. The song "Convite" off the album Solo Quiero Caminar is playing at the moment. I wonder if he will put out another album anytime soon. It's been what, 5 or 6 years now?

Beautiful weather here today, going to enjoy the rest of my day off.

002 console repaired

Spent some time this morning repairing my 002 console. Fortunately this was an easy fix and Digi Design sent me the parts to make the quick repair. Well, sorta quick. I was taking my time so I didn't accidentally mess anything up and make things worse. The thing I thought was most interesting was that I had to soak the entire console in water to calibrate it. That took about 34 minutes and... Just kidding of course!! Gotcha there. I know I know, enough with the cheap jokes and on with the story... Okay, anyway I was able to get things going smoothly and then Cosmo (America's favorite kitty) showed up.



She starts wanting to get involved, looking around, starting to touch things with her paw but this is serious business and a "No cat's allowed" situation. So I let her know that she had to leave and she didn't take it well at all...



She started swatting my hands when I tried to reach in to repair this thing, growling and hissing so she got a one way ticket out of the recording room. No angry pets allowed in my repair shop when I'm in "Pro-Tech" mode!! I almost went as far as to put on the full "Pro-Tech" uniform while I made this 10 min repair (I'd actually do something like that). Moving right along, after about 5 to 10 min of hearing meowing at the door, I let her back in. By this time the console was repaired and in test run mode.



So I opened up the door and a very cheerful Cosmo came trotting in and hopped up on my lap and started purring. Interesting animal (as I mentioned before, I've got a 3 ring circus going on over here). Happy the console is back up an running. Well I really should say, so far so good....

Photos

I uploaded the rest of the photos from NYC and the travel day home

Some late night editing

A birds eye shot of what's going on over here. Took this photo the other evening right before I had troubles with the console the following morning. Oh! Speaking of, I was supposed to give you an update about that. It's working fine now after replacing the DC power cable harness. I'll write about my experience being a "tech" in a little while. (I didn't do too bad if you ask me!)

Steve Lukather remembering Michael Jackson

On June 26th 2009 CNN anchor Tony Harris talked with Steve Lukather, among others, about working together with Michael Jackson, especially for his top record Thriller. Read the transcription of Harris's phone call with Lukather.

Tonight in San Francisco - Ottmar Liebert - Solo performance

Went across the bay to San Francisco tonight to see Ottmar perform solo. It was really nice to watch from the audience's perspective verses being on stage. I had a great time, just relaxed and had a few glasses of wine, even closed my eyes a few different times and just listened.

Temporary Setback

Digi 002 console is experiencing technical problems - Just spoke on the phone with tech support and they're sending out a part and instructions for me to make the easy repair. Should get it in the mail either tomorrow or Monday.

EL Charango

In 2005 I became associate producer on the film El Charango—a 22-minute Spanish-language documentary about music and mining in the Bolivian city of Potosí. While I possessed no formal training in film production, I was guided by the simple burning passion for the charango and the culture from which it comes. I worked with director Jim Virga and editor Tula Goenka (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Salaam Bombay!) to construct a narrative about how a little musical instrument relates to the largest silver mine in the world. ....... Check out more of it HERE

Great documentary by Andrew Reissiger. I really enjoyed watching it, definitely worth picking up. I always love learning about different instruments, the history behind music and instruments is fascinating to me. For those of you who don't know, he's playing the Charango on some of my new tunes and it sounds beautiful yet haunting at the same time. A wonderful instrument. Oh, I see that I already mentioned that a few posts below there... Well, now you know again!

Recording - Last Week

It seems like it just wouldn't be normal for me unless I had a 3 ring circus going on when trying to record. Things tend to get out of control over here with these cats taking over my recording room while I'm trying to work but I still seem to get work done. It's been great to get back to the new music. Life has been a bit crazy to say the least as we moved right when I got back from the tour. Moving is never any fun and it's stressful on the pets too. We're enjoying our new place though and we're happy to have it over with. It's not too far from where we were actually, just across town as they say. Of course I can't say where, that's classified but I can tell you that we live west of the Mississippi!

I've been having a lot of fun with these songs, it's been really interesting to hear how they're turning out. More in the works this week. Didn't get much done today, had to deal with some really stupid stuff. So I may work a bit tonight to make up for what I didn't get done today. Last week I pulled some crazy hours recording. I think one of the days, I was up around 7 or 8AM working on and off through out the day and finished up around 1:30AM. Went to sleep and got up at 5:30 AM. I just couldn't sleep because I kept hearing ideas so I started the coffee maker and fired up the computer to start recording for the day. Although I'm thinking about switching to more of a night schedule this coming week, nothing too extreme though. Not like the old days where my usual bed time was around 5:30 - 6AM. The night is always a lot more quiet and peaceful. No phones ringing or daily stuff to deal with, not to mention unpacking. Oh, and no cats jumping around either. At night Cosmo will fall asleep on my lap while I'm at the computer and Herbie will be sleeping on the bed. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.


(Below) Some random photos from my week of recording -






And more photos HERE - A while back I put together a flickr album for photos I'm taking while recording this album

Today

Coffee with Andrew Reissiger at 9:30am to catch up a bit after the tour and discuss future music plans. After, we walked over to my place so I could share some of the new music with him that I've been working on. (As I mentioned before, he's playing a few different instruments on some of the tunes.) Andrew is already familiar with my pet "Cosmo Kitty" but when I have guests I usually go through all the warnings and disclaimers that we have a ferocious feline, just so guests keep their distance. Ah!, speak of the devil - she just hopped up on my lap for some petting, hold on a sec....

Okay, I'm back, that was out of control. I stopped petting the cat so I could get back to typing here and she was not happy about that decision. Trying to reach for the computer mouse was a mistake.... Any cat trainers out there?? Anyway where was I.... ah yes! So we got back to my place and I opened the door and peaked my head in. I looked left and right, no sign of Cosmo. The coast was clear and we walked in. As usual Herbie was right there ready to greet us as the cool cat that he is.

Andrew sat down and right away Cosmo (America's Favorite Kitty) came walking out and over to the cat scratcher. She started clawing and tearing into that thing sharpening her claws while looking at him as if he was a fresh cut of prime rib. She then calmly walked over in his direction. At this point I'm thinking maybe we should relocate into the music room, probably best right? But by then it was too late and Cosmo had reached Andrew. I said don't move, I'll try to scurry her away. But then Cosmo started meowing, purring and rubbing up against his legs??? I paused for a second with confusion. She then laid on her side rolling over etc, he looked at me and said, "she seems fine to me". She totally put on a whole production show acting like the best kitty cat on the planet. I then rolled my eyes, go figure....

So we walked into the music room and started listening to some of my new tunes. Right away Andrew had some great ideas. It was nice to get working on my tunes again, I'm looking forward to hearing how they turn out. When I was in NYC, I spent a lot of time listening to what I've recorded so far. It's amazing to me how much time is spent listening when making an album (At least for me). Hours and hours really. I remember riding the subway and walking around the city getting lots of cool ideas and I'm really looking forward to getting busy. I'm going to try and cram in a bunch of recording time in before I hit the road with OL in July. I'll keep the up-dates coming -

Photos

Uploaded a few photos I took from the show in Santa Fe. I can't believe it's been a week already.

10 years

This month marks 10 years of touring for me. So much has happened in the past 10 years it boggles my mind and not to mention how much I've changed. Let's see, 10 years ago in June I was doing the stage lighting at a club in Hollywood to make ends meet while working on music. I was 23. The band Toto came through and I did their light show. They really liked my work and asked me to go out on the road with them. I had never done anything like that and remember lying in bed at night thinking, "should I go?" " No, I can't do that, I'll just say that I can't because of...." "maybe I could go??" Point being, I felt a lot of fear and was worried about taking a chance. I didn't want to fail and didn't know what I was up against. Not to mention, didn't know that much about the tech side of lighting (I just happen to have good timing because I'm a musician. Which, if you ask me is one of the most important aspect of lighting). One of those nights, I just said to myself, what do I have to loose?

I called up the production manager and said I'm in. I remember that plane flight to the east coast. 5 1/2 hours looking out the window thinking, what am I doing. It felt like the longest plane ride ever. I was so stressed out about the first show, working with people I hadn't worked with before, telling a whole lighting crew of people who were well beyond 15 to 20 years older then me what to do and the fear that they'd see right through me. Next thing I knew, the first show was over and the tour manager walked up to me and said, "great job, you're hired". After that, my experience with traveling was about to begin, and more then I could imagine. Started around the US and then Internationally. I gained experience quickly and started to gain respect with a lot of the lighting crews I worked with. Of course, that respect didn't come till after they saw my light show. It wasn't easy walking in being the youngest. A lot of times I would catch attitude but I had the confidence that I would do a great job and most importantly, the band gave me great support and that's all that really mattered. With in a year's time I found myself in Mexico City doing a light show for Toto when they opened up for Eric Clappton in a stadium for 53,000 people. From there I was all over the world, the list of countries goes on and on. An amazing eye opening experience for me.

When I was home between tour dates, I worked back at the club in Hollywood, studied flamenco guitar with Paco Arroyo and worked on practicing technique and songwriting. I was also able to hop on a few other tours as a lighting director between my touring with Toto. In 2004 Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra came through that same club and that's where I met OL for the first time. We kept in touch and I shared my music with him. It was in the summer of 05' that I was in the Netherlands with Toto when Ottmar contacted me about adding my music to his Listening Lounge (which eventually led to me being in the band!). And of course that's a whole other story for another time but some of those same fears came back. I didn't want to let him or myself down, this was a totally different situation and I was going to be on the other side of things. But this time things were different. I had the confidence from my lighting experience that taught me that I could do what ever I put my mind to. Music was my passion and I wasn't going to let myself down. For me, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. (no pressure there)

Anyway, getting back to touring, I finished my final tour with Toto last year (2008) ending up in Korea. There have been no Toto tour dates since. A lot of great memories with those guys. I keep in touch and look forward to hanging when we cross pathes again.


(above photo - My last light show with Toto in Korea)

I'm excited about what the future holds with my music adventures and the travels with Ottmar. The touring continues for me and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 10 years. Looking back, 10 years doesn't really sound like a long time but it feels like lifetime ago. What I've learned is that it can be so hard to break out of your comfort zone, that's for sure. But looking back, I've only found that breaking out has pushed me through to bigger and better things. I'm sure glad I decided to make that call and take a chance.

LOL

Remember these commercials!! Check out the part where the bubble floats away with the bath tub in it - HAHAHA Classic!

Lensic Performing Arts Center - Santa FE

Awesome evening tonight at the Lensic, I really enjoyed the show. It was also great to meet all of you who came to the "after show" hang. As they say, a fun time was had by all. I'm very much looking forward to the tour dates in July, can't wait to get back out on tour! Thanks to everyone for coming down and supporting a good cause and seeing us perform tonight.

Santa Fe

It's good to be in Santa Fe again. Looking forward to the show at the Lensic tomorrow evening.

Home

I had a wonderful time on the East Coast the past few weeks and spending a week in NYC was fantastic! With all that time I was able to become more familiar with the big city. Saturday and Sunday night at the Blue Note were a blast! The shows were a lot of fun and I enjoyed talking with fans after. Someone told me that they flew all the way from Buenos Aries to see a few of our shows at the Blue Note and absolutely love it. A few other people said they liked our show so much in Norfolk CT that they had to come see us in NYC to catch another one.

The interesting thing to me about playing 2 shows a night for 6 nights is: In the mornings and afternoons I'd go and do different things around the city. Next thing I knew, time flew by and I was walking down the stairs with the band on the way to the stage. Our tour manager was always at the bottom of the steps saying the same thing to us for every show as we walked by. At that point it really felt like I was in the movie "Ground Hog Day"! Especially about 7 or 8 shows in, it was pretty trippy.

TRAVEL DAY:

After the last show, I got back to the hotel, caught an hour of sleep and then had to get up to catch my ride to the airport. (BELOW) This is what it looked like when my wake up call came -



So off to the airport. After the super long lines getting through security, I got to the gate. Interesting connection too, non stop to Seattle then on to Oakland. It didn't really bother me though. I thought at least I could get 5 1/2 hours of sleep on the plane, nothing else to do today. I got to my seat. After some time past they were almost ready to close the doors. The travel Gods must have been shining down on my because I had a whole row to my self! At this point a calm and peaceful feeling came across me. A vision of me laying down across all 3 seats: happy, comfortable, warm and sound asleep. I then started to smile. "Sir, may I get you another pillow, blanket or how about a nice warm cup of hot coco" the flight attendant asks. I reply with, "you know, that would be just about perfect"............................... but I actually hear -

"Yup, 27 A & B and the seats in the row behind are yours, enjoy your flight!"

Wait a second, what?!! I quickly look up and see two families with 3 babies and extra bags starting to move into my row and the row behind! I scramble to quickly look at my ticket to see I could possibly be in the wrong seat or maybe I was accidentally put in the baby section. But I was in the right seat. The next thing I hear is this super high pitch scream that just about melted my ear drums off and then felt kicking on my seat from behind.... To top it all off the Captain then announces that it will be a while for take off, about 35 min or so as we're #18 in line.....

Anyway, when I got home my cat Herbie was very happy to see me. I was then greeted by Cosmo with a hiss and a swat and then she gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the evening. Although, she was meowing, purring and walking all over me at 4:30 am to wake me up, right on schedule. Back to her usual routine with out a beat skipped.

It's good to be home.

Friday Night in New York City.

I enjoyed both shows very much last night and the audiences were fantastic! About to get ready to head down to the Blue Note in a little bit, looking forward to tonight's shows.

This week in NYC

It's been great to spend a week in New York City. In the afternoons I've been getting out and walking around the city and going to a few of the museums. Earlier in the week I went to the museum of Natural History. My first time there and thoroughly enjoyed it. I put the "Opium / Dreaming" album on in my headphones and walked around. It was nice to walk around with the music and look at the sights. About 10 min into it, I began to notice that the music started to fit what I was looking at in a really interesting way and some how the timing of each song lasted about the exact time I was in each room. Walking into a different room with a different song set such a interesting and unique tone to what I was looking at. It's hard to explain so I suggest you just go there and try it. I didn't take time to read anything, just took everything in - looking + listening. My favorite part was when I walked into ocean section. The song "Chi-Wahwah Beauty" happen to come on as I walked into the enormous room all lit up in blue and trippy lighting as if you were under water with sea creatures all around. A huge blue whale hung from the ceiling as if it was diving down. The perfect song for that room. (electric wah wah guitar with trippy synth sounds). A great experience.

Yesterday I went to the MoMA museum with Ottmar. Beautiful museum, it was great to walk around in there and discuss the art together. As I was looking at some of the art I noticed the struggle between my right and left brain. Part of me initially wanted to say, "I don't understand what that is" and another part of me was saying, "accept it for what it is". I wonder how many people notice that or if they ignore those feelings. It's so important for us to be able to express our selves - thoughts + Feelings - through art and not suppress those feelings. It's also very important to have more art programs in schools - as much or more then Science and Math. No offence Science and Math but you've been on the top priority for a long time and it's time to make some space for Art.

Tonight in New York City

Great to be back in NYC. Bandmate Michael Chavez and I got out to a ball game last night. It was great to see the new Citi Field, great ball park. I strongly recommend the nachos from the Nacho Grande cart. The best ball park nachos I've had yet! Yeah you read that right, the best ones yet. I had the one with cheese and jalapenos.

Westhampton Beach

Great weather in Westhampton Beach, I went for a nice walk today. After soundcheck I gathered my things and made sure everything was all packed up as the bus is dropping us off in NYC tomorrow and don't want to leave anything behind.

Infinity Hall - Norkfolk, CT

Infinity Hall, the surprise of the tour for me. A Great venue in a great location.

Beautiful weather in New England this time of the year. I went for a nice walk and came across a great rushing river. I let Ottmar know about it and we both walked back there together to take photos of it. Great dinner and wine at the venue then up to the stage for our performance. When we walked out on stage we were met with a very warm welcome from the audience, lot's of applause through out the set. The view from stage was really nice. At times during the show I found myself looking around this great little venue, the architecture, the stained glass windows and the little lights all around. It was also nice to see people sitting way up on the back balcony with LED candles flickering on all the tables. What a great vibe in this place, it had something special about it, I just love playing in venues like this.

The performance felt great and the show was over before I knew it. I hope to come back here again. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show tonight!

Cambridge

This morning I walked around Harvard square and stopped in Pinochio's pizza for a slice, then off to soundcheck. After sound check we all met up for a delicious dinner at the hotel where the Regattabar is located. Two shows tonight, didn't look like there was a bad seat in the house, very intimate setting.

Afterwards, back on the bus and into my bunk to watch a movie.

Let's have a look at tonights setup shall we?

Changed my rig around a few nights ago and have been enjoying the new set up.

Today at the Ridgefield Playhouse

Photos taken at soundcheck

Photos I took this morning

Berchmere - Alexandria

Always a great audience at the Berchmere. I really enjoyed the set, some nice moments in the music tonight. No problems with my thumb nail either, I repaired it this morning and it worked fine for the show.

A little technical difficulty During sound check as there was an issue with my keyboard not putting any sound out. However, it turned out to be something other then the keyboard and in about 15 min later we were back on track with the sound check.

Rams Head - Annapolis

Great show at Rams Head, always a warm welcoming audience there. At the end of the set on the very last guitar strum, half of the acrylic on my thumb nail popped off tearing half of the tip of my actual nail. No time to make a repair as I had to walk right back out on stage to play the encore. Trying to play a rumba strum with out getting my nail caught in the strings was a good challange, had to adjust the way I play but still seemed to work out fine. Fortunately there were no more songs after that.

It was great to be back in Annapolis, I've always had a good time in that town.

PICTURES FROM THE SHOW

A word from Stevo

Hello there,

So I've received word the past few days from some fans that they have wanted to yell stuff out or give some hoots during our performance. I want to let everyone know to please feel free to give some hoots or yell out if you're enjoying the show. We enjoy knowing that the audience is having a great time.

Timmy!

TODAY - ECHOES RADIO

Performed on Echoes this morning. We played 4 pieces that turned out really nice. Great bunch of guys down at Echos, they made us feel very welcome.

Sellersville

Two shows tonight in Sellersville. First one at 4 and the second one at 7:30. My strings weren't happy today because it was raining out and very humid. It felt like I spent the entire first set set tuning. By the second set my strings seemed to be somewhat settled but they still needed some tweaking. I have to say that I enjoy playing later in the evening, I'm a night person. 4 is a bit early for me, I think Ottmar feels the same as he performed beautifully in the second set. Overall we had a nice time today and it was great to talk with some of the fans and sign a few CD's after the show. Thanks for coming down tonight!

Special thanks to the fans sending links to their photos from the past few shows!

Today in Buffalo, NY

Saturday Morning: Got out to see the Falls this morning. Haven't been there in years and was great to see it again. Looking forward to the show tonight.



Sound check: When I got on stage, I noticed that every time I got out of my chair I was getting all of these static electricity shocks. It took me a while to figure out that it was the plastic chair they set out for me, or at least it seemed to be some type of plastic. So I asked to have it swapped out for a different chair and I got no more shocks.

Show: Nice show tonight.

Cosmo's new pet bed

Here is a picture of Cosmo's new pet bed. Unfortunately she's not so happy since I got the luggage out. As usual she's been swatting and hissing at me as I put the clothes in it. I'll give her some cat treats in a bit to try and cheer her up.

I leave in the morning for Santa Fe. Yes, another airport adventure. Keep your eyes out for my twits in the morning to see how it goes!

PLAYLIST

I made an SD playlist on SoundCloud. Please feel free to click the share button on the top right and embed the code into your website, blog, Facebook, Myspace etc.. for your listening pleasure!

Enjoy

Miranda - Guitar Duet

Miranda - Guitar Duet by stephenduros

Here is a recording of Jason McGuire and me playing the song "Miranda" from my first album. We're putting together guitar duo in our free time to play at private events. I can be contacted through my website for booking information.

I hope you enjoy the piece.

Maybe the cat has ME trained after all ??

(above) Cosmo in super cuddle mode. Even though she runs away with my guitar strings, there are many times where we're buddies.

Hm, Speaking of the Cosmo, seems she has me wrapped around her paw lately. I remember a good friend telling me along time ago about his dog trainer telling him "do you want the dog to train you or do you want to train the dog??" Well..... I think the cat may have ME trained here. For a while now Cosmo has been getting up at 4:30 AM sharp and waking me up!! Yeah, you read that right. She comes over to my side of the bed and sits there meowing at me till I get up. She runs into the kitchen and sits by her food container meowing for me to feed her. Believe me, she's well fed but she wants "fresh" food at that particular time for some reason. So I get out of bed half asleep and walk like a zombie into the kitchen to give her cat food. At this point she's super thrilled and meowing up a storm. Of all the times, why 4:30am?? So I thought, hm... Maybe I'll wake her up in the middle of the day while she's taking her usual super long cat nap and try and get her on a day schedule, that way she'll sleep through the night!

So the next day I saw her sprawled out snoozing in her cat bed. I could almost see "Z z z z" floating above her head. A mischievous grin came over me as I slowly walked up to her. I tapped on her side to wake her and nothing, no response. Hm, interesting. So I started talking to her and she didn't move, not even a twitch in her ears. I even shook her a bit but nothing seemed to work, I then gave up and waked away.

I thought, maybe there is a lesson to be learned here? So the next night when it was 4:30 I heard her walk up and start meowing. I didn't move. She meowed some more. Not a movement from me. I thought, "HA! I got this in the bag!" But then she jumped up on the bed and starts meowing about 3 inches from my ear, not fun to hear but I kept my eyes closed. So she jumps off the bed and goes over to the side of my dresser and starts scratching the side of it back 'n forth, not a pleasant sound believe me, might as well be nails on a chalkboard! I then open my eyes to see what's going on, the cat sees me open my eyes and jumps up on the bed meowing at me really loudly and runs into the kitchen meowing for her food. Well, you know the rest of the story....

Saturday - Wiens Family Cellars

All set up for the show tonight. Looks like I have been chosen to be the opening act this evening. I will be playing solo for 30 min or so while everyone has dinner. Should make for a nice evening.

AFTER THE SHOW:

Wow was it cold out there tonight. When I got up to do my solo part, my fingers were ice. Did the best I could considering. The show was freezing but the crowed seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. It's funny how the day ended up because I just looked in the mirror and I'm completely sun burnt from this afternoon. Didn't even know it. A few days back I was laying out by the pool side in the Palm Desert with a 15 sunblock on and I was fine. I do a quick sound check and I'm charred! I guess that's how it goes.

I had a great time on this run. Now hopefully the travel day home will go smoothly tomorrow morning.

Friday Night at the Coach House

AWESOME show tonight! Great crowd, my favorite show of this run. Ottmar let the crowd know that in Spain people yell "Ole" but here, they should yell "Timmy" if they hear something they like instead. "Timmy" is from the show South Park. And if you've been following Ottmar's diary you already have the heads up on that . There were more then a few people in the audience that got the joke. And for the rest of the night they were having a great time and yelling it out. I love a good lively crowd, it makes the show so much fun!

I'm having a great time with this band, I can't wait to get back out in May to... oh we have another show tomorrow. I'll save that line for after the show tomorrow evening.

Thursday - The Canyon Club

Back at The Canyon Club. It felt warm on stage from the lights but not too warm. I didn't mind it although I did have to tune between a few of the songs, more so last night then I have before on this run. I'd much rather be warm then cold though, it's never fun being cold on stage. I enjoyed the show, I hit a few jazz notes but other then that it was fun. Barcelona Nights rocked last night. I may even go so far to say that it was my most favorite time of playing that song to date.

Wednesday - day off

Tuesday - Palm Desert

THIS MORNING:

Woke up early to get ready to play on the morning news with Ottmar. I choose not to have coffee so I can stay relaxed for the performance. In doing so, it's a trip for me to see everyone around me at the news station totally wired from tons of coffee. They were talking about a million miles an hour where I probably said about 3 words all morning. Well, that was until they set us up in front of the cameras to get ready. Then I started to feel pretty chatty. It's always those moments when I'm in front of the camera that I want to start in with the cheap jokes. After a few good laughs with Ottmar they were ready for us to play. A few questions for OL to answer and then quick version of "Streetlight" and we're finished.

After getting back to the hotel I walked over to the coffee shop, now it's my turn to get all wired. Now I'm about to pack a few things up to take over to the venue and get set up for tonight's performance.

AFTERNOON AT THE MCCALLUM THEATER:





Added a few photos on flickr from sound check today.